Last Escape
by Hyperionchic
Summary: This is a Resident Evil/Tomb Raider crossover. The head of Umbrella Inc. enlists Lara Croft to retrieve a jewel that will help him create the ultimate weapon, so he can finally destroy Jill and the other STARS members. My first RE fic, so please r/r.
1. Prologue

Last Escape  
  
  
Prologue  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, nor do I own any of it's characters, Capcom does. And I do not own Tomb Raider or any of it's characters, Eidos does. There, now with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy. This is the first of many chapters, well, most of my fics or stories are.  
  
  
  
  
  
The head of Umbrella Corporation stepped out of his long black limousine, looking up at the massive mansion infront of him. He looked like the everyday businessman, he wore a black suit with a white shirt, a baby-blue tie around his neck to compliment his eyes. His short cropped blond hair slightly oiled, and his face clean shaven. He would have been a handsome man, but the ugliness of his soul and heart made him feared by those who knew him. Those who knew the terrible deeds he had planned for Raccoon City were terrified of him.   
He smiled a smooth, confident smile as he slowly walked up the steps of the Croft Estate. He had heard of this person from a colleague of his, a very reliable one at that. Police Chief Bryon Irons had hired this same person many times before, although, those little artifacts that were lying around the Raccoon Police Department were nothing compared to what he wanted now. This artifact contained the one that he needed to create the ultimate weapon, the one thing he could use to finally be rid of those S.T.A.R.S. pest.  
He rang the doorbell, and a man who appeared to be in about his mid-40's answered. "Hello? How may I help you?"  
"Hello, I'm here to see Lady Lara Croft. My name is James Dracksen, and I have a proposition for her."  
"Step inside sir.", he motioned to the large living area, "Just have a seat here. The lady will be with you in a moment."  
Dracksen smiled that same smile. "Thank you."  
  
  
Hillary walked over to Bryce, who was sitting at his workstation that was covered in junk, which was nothing unusual. He cleared his throat, "Tell her to get out of that blasted practice area, she has a guest.", he paused, "A very important looking fellow from the looks of it."  
"Ohh..buggas! She just trashed Simon again!" Bryce whined and started to beat his head against the workstation table.  
Hillary chuckled. "You know, sometimes I actually pity you Bryce."  
"Gee, thanks. But pity doesn't help put Simon back together, now does it?"  
As Hillary was about to reply, Lara Croft stepped out of the training area, taking off her pistol holster's at the same time. Hillary cleared his throat, and she looked up. "Yes, Hillary?"  
"You have a visitor. He's waiting for you in the living area." He motioned with a hand to the handsome looking man who was sitting on the sofa.   
"Very well. Here, take these." She lugged her pistol belt into his arms with ease, and smiled to herself when she heard him grunt as he carried them back upstairs. She reached the living area and put on the smiled she used to charm people. "Hello, I'm Lady Croft, how can I be of service?"  
He stood up and held out a hand for her to shake. "Lady Croft, it's a pleasure." He took her hand and brought it up to his mouth, kissing it gently, then lowering it as he let it go. "My name is James Dracken, head of the Umbrella Corporation. I came to acquire about your services as a Tomb Raider. You did some work for a colleague of mine many times before, Bryon Irons ring a bell?"  
She nodded slowly. "Yes, a rather rude man if you don't mind me saying, but he did have the money, so I never complained."  
Dracksen chuckled slightly. "Yes, ma'am. That's him. Anyway, if it's money you're worried about, I've got plenty of it. If you should choose to accept my offer, you will be paid upon retrieval of the artifact I am seeking."  
She eyed him for a moment, and decided he seemed like an honest businessman. "Alright, what it is you wish for me to retrieve?"  
He motioned for her to take a seat as he sat down. "What I want is a stone located deep in the jungles of Brazil. It's in a temple called the Temple of Xhacan, a medicine man who people once believed could raise the dead. The jewel you are looking for is a large sapphire, about the size of your fist.", he handed her a file that he had carried inside with him, "This file contains the coordinates of the Temple, and any information you wish to know about the stone."  
She took the file, flipping through it, then brought her attention back to him. "Why do you wish to posses such and item? If you don't mind me asking?"  
He simply shrugged. "I just like to collect things that stimulate my..inner child." He laughed. "Silly, isn't it?"  
"No..not at all. Well, Mr. Dracksen, before you know it, that stone will be sitting pretty in your office."  
He smiled and stood up, looking at his watch. "I really hate to cut this so short Lady Croft, but I must catch my plane back to the states. I left my address in the file. If you don't mind, once you retrieve the stone, come to my office in Raccoon City, and you will recieve your payment there."  
"Very well. I'll be seeing you soon then. I hope you have a nice flight back home."  
He nodded politely to her. "Thank you, and a safe journey to you as well." He smiled once more, then turned away and exited the manor. Upon entering his limousine, he starting laughing a sinister laugh. "These damned S.T.A.R.S. members are as good as dead now!" The driver put the car in gear and once he was out on the main road, he sped off away from the Croft Estate.  
  
  
Jill Valentine sat at her desk in the S.T.A.R.S. office inside the Raccoon Police Dept. sweat clinging to her forehead. The air conditioning was out throughout the entire building, and Irons wouldn't d anything about it. She tried to ignore it as she looked over reports from inside sources at Umbrella Inc., who was apparently not having any luck learning anything at all, until she came across one from Dracksen's secretary, or so he thought she was anyway. It reported that he had taken a trip to Europe, to meet with a very "important" person. It didn't do any good, because it didn't say who. She threw down the report, too frustrated to read anymore, and looked over her desk over at her new partner, Rebecca Chambers. She had been assigned to work with Rebecca after Chris suddenly resigned from the RPD, she figured he couldn't take the stress of the job anymore. "God, why doesn't Irons just get this damn thing fixed?"  



	2. Raccoon City

Last Escape  
  
Chapter 1: Raccoon City  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places in this story, Capcom and Eidos do. So please don't sue me...not like they'd get much anyways, so just don't do it!   
  
  
  
  
  
Lara Croft entered the offices of Umbrella Inc, the jewel she had been hired to retrieve encased in a small travel bag. She headed up to the very last floor, where she was immediately rushed into Dracksen's office. She found his sitting at his desk, his back turned to her as he looked out the window, which gave him a stunning view of the Arclay Mountains. She was about to speak up when he suddenly turned to her, "Ah..Lady Croft. It's so nice to see you once again. I presume you have found what I asked?"  
She handed his assistant the travel bag, "Yes, of course. Now, if you'll pay me, I'll gladly be on my way. I would like to do a little sight seeing before I leave."  
He nodded to his assistant. "Nigel, make out a check for $200, 000.00 to Ms. Croft."  
"Yes, sir." His assistant pulled out a checkbook and started making the check out.  
Dracksen smiled at Lara. "I hope you enjoy your stay in Raccoon City, it's a real quiet town, so you shouldn't have any problems."  
Her check was handed to her and she nodded to Dracksen one last time, then proceeded to leave the building.   
  
  
Dracksen looked back out the window, then finally spoke to Nigel. "Nigel, head downtown to the laboratory and give them the jewel. Tell them I said to begin work immediately on Project 17-A. I want him completed before midnight tonight. Oh...and tell them to unleash the virus immediately, we're going to need a distraction to keep those meddling S.T.A.R.S. from finding our new toy before he is even complete."  
"Yes Mr. Dracksen." Nigel turned to leave, and was halted when he heard Dracksen speak again, "Wait..even better, tell them to release our Nemesis and the Tyrant as well, let them have a chance to play with S.T.A.R.S. also."  
"Yes, sir." Nigel finally headed out the door, going down to the underground level that contained the shuttle car that lead to the Umbrella Laboratory. While onboard, he pulled out his cellphone, and dialed the number of S.T.A.R.S member Jill Valentine.  
  
  
Jill and Rebecca were just about to leave the R.P.D. for the day when Jill's cellphone rang. She reached inside the pocket of her leather jacket, and pulled it out. "Hello?"  
"Ms. Valentine, it's Nigel."  
"Hold on a second, please." She quickly motioned to Rebecca and mouthed, "Nigel."  
She nodded, and walked back over to where Jill was standing. "Okay, go ahead Nigel. What have you got for me?"  
"Dracksen's planning on releasing the virus on the city in about an hour. I know telling you this won't help any, but there's something else you must know, if you want to survive.", he paused, "He's releasing some monster that is..programmed or something..to go directly after S.T.A.R.S. members."  
She sighed, one hour wasn't nearly enough time to evacuate, or even prepare for the attack. It seemed as though it was going to be a everyone-for-themselves type of situation. "Thank you Nigel, I appreciate you warning us."  
"Good luck to you, Ms. Valentine. I wish the best for all of you, although I know it is probably pointless."   
  
  
With that, he hung up the phone just as he arrived at the Umbrella Laboratory. He walked along countless numbers of hallways, until he came to the room he was looking for. He pulled a red keycard from the inside pocket of his suit, and swiped it in the card reader that was to the left of the door, and punched in his six-digit access code. The doors hissed and opened to reveal atleast a dozen scientists gathered around computers, microscopes, analysis sheets, and other things he pretty much knew absolutely nothing about. He found Dr. Lloyd huddled over his latest creation, a monster of some sort that had superior intelligence over any of the other monstrosities. It was called Omega Hunter, it though, remembered, even held grudges against, of course, all S.T.A.R.S. members, and to cut down on the loss of U.B.C.S. members, it was programmed to spare anyone who was an employee of Umbrella. It's strength was superior to that of Nemesis and Tyrant.   
Nigel walked up to Lloyd and cleared his throat rather loudly, making Lloyd jump in surprise. "Geez, man! You trying to scare me shitless or something?"  
Lloyd,although a brilliant scientist, was only 27 years old, and apparently still immature. Nigel disliked him for that reason, he never took anything seriously. "The thought has crossed my mind a couple of times."  
"...Whatever. What do you want?"  
He took out the jewel and handed it to Lloyd. "Dracksen wasn't Omega ready by midnight, and in one hour you are to release the virus, along with Nemesis and Tyrant."  
"Jeez, that guy is one major pain in the ass. Tell him it'll be done." He went to work on releasing the virus into Raccoon's water supply, then he went over and started processing the jewel in a chemical, so he could insert it into Omega's bloodstream.  
  
  
Approxamately one hour later, Lara Croft was walking down the street to the local diner. She had always wondered what so-called "soul food" tasted like. She entered the diner, finding it nearly deserted, except for an old man, who looked like he was terribly ill. She took a seat at the bar counter, the old man greeting her with a warm smile even though he looked like he'd rather be at home in bed. "Hello there, ma'am. What can I get ya?"  
"Umm...what's good here? I'm not from here, so I really don't know what I'm ordering."  
He noticed her foreign accent and smiled. "Ohh..You're a foreigner? Well, I'll be, we sure don't get too many folks like you around these parts. Welcome to Raccoon City, my name's Glen. I run this restaurant here, and our fried chicken is the best."  
She couldn't help but smile at his politeness, "Thank you, sir. I reckon I'll have the fried chicken then."  
"Alrighty, coming right up." He went into the kitchen and took some out of the fryer, putting it on a plate with some french fries. He brought it back out and set it out infront of her.   
"This looks delicious. Thank you."   
"You're welcome. I'll be in the back cleaning up a bit, if you need anything, just holler, ya hear?"  
She nodded and smiled, she loved the little country accent some Americans had, it made them seem so, nice and polite. And at times, it could be down-out-right charming she thought.   
  
  
Claire Redfield sped past the sign that read, "Welcome to Raccoon City!". The engine of her Harley Davidson being the only sound on the highway. Her brown hair flowed behind her, while her blue eye's scanned the road ahead of her. She found the deserted highway a tad spooky, the fact that she hadn't seen another car for the last half hour didn't help any.   
She had been searching for her missing brother, Chris Redfield. She came to Raccoon because it was the last known location of Chris, and that was two month's ago. She was hoping Chris was still in the city and alright.   
She passed up a gas station with an 18-wheeler starting to pull out onto the road, and was relieved to see a living person again. She had started to think Raccoon City was some sort of ghost town.   
  
Leon S. Kennedy drove along the interstate in his gray Jeep Wrangler, finding the interstate rather strange, since he was the only motorist on their. A small shiver ran down his spine as he passed a tall green sign that said, "Raccoon City exit, 10mi.". He gave a sigh of relief, "Thank god, I'm almost there."  
He had been trying to get ahold of his new boss, Police Chief Bryon Irons, for the last two days to tell him he was going to get an early start at his new job with the Raccoon Police Department. Unsuccessful in his attempt to contact Chief Irons, he decided to go on ahead and would talk to him upon his arrival. He had been recruited to the R.P.D. immediately after he graduated from the academy. He was to be report to Sgt. Marvin Branagh to get his assignment. He figured he would most likely be assigned to the SWAT team or something of that sort.  
As he turned off on the exit ramp to Raccoon City, he couldn't help but get a bad feeling about the place, it was just too quiet and spooky, almost as if it was some sort of ghost town right out of one of those stupid zombie movies.  



End file.
